Patent application WO2004/049760 describes a lamp assembly comprising a lamp and a reflector. The reflector aims at avoiding loss of radiation and focusing the radiation emitted by the lamp on a desired point. The lamp is maintained in position with respect to the reflector by means of two supports, which are attached to the reflector. This lamp assembly is intended to be put in a heating system.
However, such a lamp assembly is bulky. As a consequence, it is not adapted for many heating systems. In particular, such a lamp assembly cannot be adapted in a furnace comprising means for receiving the ends of lamps. Such furnaces comprise reflectors and supports for receiving lamps. However, the shape of the reflectors is pre-determined, because the reflectors are already present in the furnace. For example, the furnace may comprise reflecting walls. Hence, these furnaces may not be adapted for certain applications. If, for instance, the furnace has been designed for drying flat surfaces, it may not be adapted for heating bottles preforms. As a consequence, it would be advantageous if a lamp assembly comprising a lamp and a reflector could be placed in such a furnace, because the shape of the reflector can be chosen independently of the furnace. Unfortunately, the lamp assembly of WO2004/049760 is too bulky and thus cannot be placed in such a furnace.
Moreover, the size of the lamp assembly of WO2004/049760 can hardly be reduced. Actually, a reduction of the size of this lamp assembly would lead to a short distance between the lamp and the reflector. As the temperature of the lamp vessel is relatively high, it would deteriorate the reflector unless using a supplementary cooling air or water system.